Shasta language facts for kids

The Shasta language was once spoken by the Shasta people in parts of northern California and southwestern Oregon. It is an extinct language, which means there are no longer any native speakers. By 1980, only two elderly people still spoke Shasta. Today, all ethnic Shasta people speak English as their main language.

The Shasta language had several different ways of being spoken, called dialects. These dialects were slightly different depending on where the Shasta people lived. According to a language expert named Golla, there were four main dialects:

• Ikirakácˑu (Oregon Shasta)
• Iruhikwáˑcˑu (Klamath River Shasta)
• Uwáˑtuhúcˑu (Scott Valley Shasta)
• Ahútˑireˀeˑcˑu (Shasta Valley Shasta)

Sounds of the Shasta Language

The Shasta language had some unique sounds that were different from English. Understanding these sounds helps us learn how the language worked.

Consonants and Vowels

In Shasta, the length of a sound could change the meaning of a word. This means a "short" sound and a "long" sound were like different letters. For example, saying a sound quickly or holding it longer made a difference in what the word meant. This was true for many of its consonant and vowel sounds.

Here are some examples of how sound length changed meaning:

• A word meaning "a gnat" sounded like /t͡ʃákàráx/ with a short 'k'.
• A word meaning "a board" sounded like /t͡sàkːírʔ/ with a long 'k'.
• A word meaning "nothing" sounded like /ʔátʼùʔ/ with a short 'tʼ'.
• A word meaning "wild sunflower" sounded like /ʔátʼːùʔ/ with a long 'tʼ'.

Shasta also had four main vowel sounds, similar to the 'i' in "ski," 'e' in "bed," 'a' in "father," and 'u' in "flute." Like consonants, these vowels could also be short or long.

Tones in Shasta

Another interesting feature of Shasta was its use of tones. This means that the pitch of your voice (whether it goes high or low) when you say a word could change its meaning. Shasta had two main tones: a high tone and a low tone.

Writing Shasta Words

A system was created by Silver (1966) to write down words in the Shasta language. This system helped people study and understand the language.

In this writing system:

• Long sounds were shown by adding a special symbol ⟨ˑ⟩ after the letter.
• Special sounds called "ejectives" (which are made by pushing air out quickly) were marked with an apostrophe ⟨ʼ⟩ over the letter.
• The sound /j/ was written as ⟨y⟩.
• A sound called the "glottal stop" /ʔ/ (like the pause in "uh-oh") was written with a small symbol ⟨ˀ⟩.
• Some letters we use in English, like b, d, f, g, j, l, q, v, and z, were not used to write Shasta sounds.

How Tones Were Written

To show the tones in Shasta words, the writing system used special marks:

• A high tone was marked with an accent mark ⟨′⟩ over the vowel, like ú.
• A low tone was left unmarked, like u.

This system helped researchers and language learners know how to pronounce words correctly and understand their meanings.